Major League Lacrosse: Denver Outlaws Week 9 Check-In

The Denver Outlaws were definitely rattled — take the cliché as you will — by Rochester this weekend, dropping a 9-8 decision at home on Saturday and handing the Rattlers its first win on the season.

“The Rattlers are playing good ball,” Coach Tom Slate says. “They’re figuring it out and are going to get better each game.”

In one of the lowest scoring contests for Denver this season, Rochester’s John Galloway led the way, with 19 saves from the rookie netminder and stopping the Outlaws from securing their ticket to the playoffs.

Upset?

The Outlaws were a shoe-in for the playoffs with a win over the Rattlers and a win out of Boston, but Rochester came up prepared, forcing Denver to push the attack 1-on-1 and limiting their shot out-put, taking the Outlaws biggest strength away.

“They took advantage of the weakness they saw in us and hats off to them for that,” says Slate. “They dominated front to back and pushed it to where we weren’t. Our guys came out a little flat and they took advantage.”

The loss still kept Denver in second-place with a 5-3 record as the team looks to redeem itself this weekend in New York.

Time for a rematch

A home-and-home series shaping up with Denver heading to the snake den to take on the Rattlers this weekend.

“We have to play four quarters of lacrosse plain and simple,” said Slate. “We’ve been stressing that all season long and if we step up and do that, things will be better for us.”

He hopes that Drew Westervelt will be back in play to lead the attack and pick up the offense that was missing from last weekend.

“He [Drew] should be back this weekend. But still, it’s always great to have our full force out there and Westy is a part of that no doubt,” Slate says. “But we also need to have the team all working without having to only step it up when a guy is missing.”

Looking to clinch

the Denver Outlaws can secure their sixth straight playoff appearance with a win and a Long Island loss against the Chesapeake Bayhawks.

A leader in net

Denver Outlaws goalkeeper Jesse Schwartzman has continued his stellar play this season and leads the MLL with a 9.95 goals against average while ranking second in the MLL with a .581 save percentage. He has held opponents to under 10 goals in six of his eight outings.

Wednesday, Slate called Schwartzman's play "rock solid."

Injury news

Ken Clausen's season is officially over. He was placed on the season-ending Physically Unable to Perform List. Also, Casey Cittadino's time on the Injured Reserve list was extended by two days.

Max Seibald tweaked his knee at the end of the indoor season, requiring a quick surgery. The injury has been lingering a little bit. Slate said he's gradually getting better.